When it comes to education, Bill Gates clearly is a man who puts his money where his mouth is, so his opinion is worth considering.
But every time I hear the “get rid of the bad teachers and reward the good ones” mantra I always wonder: how do you define a good teacher? or a bad one?
Is a good teacher the one who shows up every day, strictly adheres to the lesson plan and immediately puts an entire class to sleep? Is a bad teacher the one who wanders away from the lesson plan, but inspires students?
And how important is enthusiasm? I had a French teacher who started each class by waving a huge French flag like a member of the French resistance and having us stand to sing “La Marseillaise.” She had enthusiasm, but I can’t speak more than six words of French today. Was she a good teacher or a bad one?
My 11th-grade English teacher, on the other hand, was as dry as a stale croissant (that’s one of the six words, by the way). But, somehow, he talked me into working on the school newspaper, putting me on the road to my chosen career. Was he a good teacher or a bad one?
There are, of course, those state-mandated tests designed to rate teacher effectiveness that are all the rage in many circles, especially circles that don’t include actual teachers.
But is a teacher whose students score well on state mandated tests really a good teacher, or is he or she merely good at teaching kids how to take state mandated tests? “Teaching to the test” is what they call it and if my paycheck depended upon those scores, that’s probably what I’d be tempted to do.
Perhaps bad teaching is something you just recognize when you see it. The reality, though, is that teaching is not a science.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach when you’re facing a roomful of 25 kids with widely varying intelligence levels and attention spans.
If there were, we could do away with teachers altogether and just let the job be done by Bill Gates’ computers.
Contact D.L. Stewart at dlstew_2000@yahoo.com.
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